I had wanted to go to Capetown for a long time, but once I started planning the trip was actually a bit disappointed as the safety concerns there mean you can't really wander and explore as much as I tend to like when I visit a place. We picked the destination because we had booked a deal at a game reserve down on the eastern Cape, and that was quite the experience. So definitely no qualms about the whole trip!
As far as the show, certainly there are explanations for their actions, and I watched a couple weeks ago so was writing a bit from memory but that was what I recall feeling. Still would be happy to hear your explanations. My feelings are mine of course, but you also understand more about the back end.
I'm starting to listen to some of the ones I've never heard so this is good (and often I find out I have heard it). In general, everyone's suggestions have created a lovely urgency to create and then update the list in Spotify.
Little slow to the action here, I was combing through a cellar loaded with perfectly stored mouth watering Burgundy, Rhône and Piemonte bottles that demanded prioritization.
This is my favorite kind of post, a free form extra credit writing assignment…evocative of a summer school make up class, where the rules aren’t nearly as strict.
Thanks for the playlist ideas, and the suggestions from everyone else…I’d better try to capture the summer vibe before the first weekend in August where I wonder where did it go?!
Jonathan Richman. How can I condense this in a credible way? My parents were singularly tolerant and open minded when it came to my playing records and listening to unfamiliar music. When Talking Heads 77 was released, the console stereo that anchored the living room was on the fritz, so I hauled my bedroom stereo out into the hallway and excitedly played the album for them and my younger sisters. Tolerated. (I don’t have any friends who can make that claim.) However, the ONLY artist my mother consistently objected to was Jonathan Richman. Anytime she was in the house and I was playing a record of his, she’d insist I turn it off. I would argue for her to just sit down and listen to the lyrics of “Affection”, but to no avail. I could freely listen to all of The Fugs, Richard Pryor, Captain Beefheart and even The Residents records without getting a rise out of her - but Jonathan’s insightful lovely playful songs were like fingernails on a chalkboard for her. Decades later I was at a house party in Oakland that Jonathan also attended so I shared with him my mom’s adamant fixation, which made him laugh and he seemed to take as a badge of honor.
I have completed Season 4 of ‘The Bear’, so seriously, no pressure about launching Spoilt.
Anyway, back to conjuring up that summer vibe…before August is in our laps.
Absolutely on authenticity. I’ve seen him live wherever I’ve lived.
His often overlooked ‘Jonathan Goes Country’ worms its way into your mind…and the cover is sublime, where he’s being offered a pair of bright red Tony Lama cowboy boots by a countrypolitan slickster, and Jonathan’s mock pensive, debating in his head whether he’s truly that much country.
Probably the most bizarre Jonathan related story was that for a brief period he was being managed by the notorious Phil Kaufman (who was the person who intercepted/stole Gram Parsons’ corpse from the airport and drove it out to Joshua Tree and set it ablaze). In Kaufman’s memoir ‘Road Mangler Deluxe’ he recounts that he afterward held a wake for Gram at his home, where Jonathan and The Modern Lovers were the band that played for those assembled. Just, wow.
I love this story. It's so funny that she could tolerate so much other stuff but Jonathan Richman (which Substack autocorrects on me every time to either "Richmond" or "Richard" ... and my battles with the editing platform continue.
Jonathan is so much fun and I love that you pointed out that she didn't even want to listen to "Affection," which is just hilariously sweet and earnest.
I was longtime friends with his manager and there are so many great Jonathan stories. But what I try to tell people for perspective is that JR was way more punk rock than so much of punk rock, because he would play his "kiddie" songs at CBGB and shit like that, earning raging ire that he didn't care about. I mean, that's a legend there.
He's also so super outside strange as to be undoubtedly authentic, because he's been that way his whole life.
One year he opened for Wilco at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley -- jam packed house -- and he played 70 percent of the songs in Spanish. I just laughed and laughed because he can not be tamed.
I've told this story before (maybe even here, who knows) but I have a friend who's a concert promoter and has booked Jonathan multiple times, most recently earlier this year. Because JR refuses to carry a cell phone, there is no way to get in touch with him, so someone just has to sit in front of the venue all afternoon waiting for him to arrive. Presumably Tommy, his drummer, doesn't have a phone either. It's incredibly inconvenient for everyone, but I kind of admire it too, you know?
Also, this is the text Jonathan requests that you put in the concert listing: "We still don't use a program or a set list so we don't know what we'll do until we do it. Please do not expect old songs. Many singers my age do a retrospective; this show is not like that. It's mostly stuff made up in the last 3 and 4 years. Some of the songs presented might be in different languages; this is not to be esoteric or clever, it's because the different languages help me express different feelings sometimes. One last thing, my idea of a good show has nothing to do with applause. It's about if all the songs I sang that night were ones that I felt."
Last vacation - May (South Africa), next official vacation - probably October (???)
Since you mentioned Families Like Ours again....
I enjoyed it, but couldn't give it the complete rave that you did. There was a point in the middle that I just wasn't buying all the character decisions. It got incredibly convoluted, where the (family) story only happens because of a combination of incredibly unlikely decisions. Laura finally convinces her father to bring his ex with them and he finally gives in, only for her to decline. Then Laura -- the brilliant, Sorbonne admittee -- does all this secret advance planning to be able to accompany her mother at the last minute.....only for her to not do so until the ship is delayed by an hour, and THEN she suddenly takes off to join her mom with the ticket she arranged in advance? And when she misses the ship, she decides on the spur of the moment, to make the stupidest, most thoughtless choice possible? There's zero congruency. So we're supposed to just say she's a young, dumb, and impulsive teenager? A lot of impulsiveness for the sake of drama that was not all that believable. That said, I was entertained by the show, but these thoughts were in my head while watching it.
I don't have a burning desire to go to South Africa but I'm told it's pretty amazing. I will, however, sing along to Graham Parker singing "Durban Poison."
As for the show, every take is personal and I don't have any argument with how it landed for you. I could gently make a case for why those decisions were made, but I'm not sure that accomplishes much or might sway you, because I'm often the same way -- friends will argue against how I took something and even it if seem plausible or something to consider, I generally side with how it hit me in the first place. So I understand.
Btw, October is arguably the best month to take vacation because in many places it's still beautiful weather, the crowds are gone and all the allure remains. Endorsed! Hell, late September through October is the best time to be in SF.
Not any official 'cation, but I do plan to get to this:
Exhibition Now Open to the Public
Past as Prologue: The Last Decade of Furniture Design by Ray and Charles Eames (1968–1978) explores the final years of Eames furniture design, capturing how their work evolved to meet the emergent needs of modern workplaces.
Free and open daily, 10am–5pm at the Transamerica Pyramid Annex Gallery, 535 Washington Street, San Francisco.
Runs till Fall, I read.
I still have getting to the Richmond, CA museum on my list. One of these days..
Live to enjoy and enjoy to live, for therefor ergo there go you!
enjoy your vaca ! i just wanted to say a "thank you" for "Families Like Ours." i LOVED it prob more than anything i've watched recently and have told everyone to watch it but only knew to watch it because of your post on it. it is prob something i would have passed on !?!
Thank you Beth and I am indeed enjoying the early stages of the vacation. Temperatures are rising but I love that Portland has so much shade/trees and of course the shade of tall building in the Pearl where I live. Excited that you're spreading the word on "Families Like Ours."
I’m going to Europe soon. Germany. I need some time to spend in a free country. I still watch a little TV abroad but I am taking a true break from social media. I really need that!
The spoiler idea is good! I admit I am very slow getting to TV. I will eventually watch this new season of The Bear. I did want to let everyone know about a good show that’s about a chef. Has anyone watched Carême on Apple TV+? It’s French. About a cook in Paris in the Napoleonic era. Lots of luscious cooking scenes (and sex scenes, hey it’s French!) and political intrigue. It was sumptuous and I really enjoyed it.
Okay here is an eclectic list of summer songs. I could probably come up with more but it was already a lot. High and middle brow. Pop and rock:
Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey
Summer Girl by Haim
Rain in the Summertime by The Alarm
Deadbeat Summer by Neon Indian
Summer Babe (Winter Version) by Pavement
Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft
In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift
Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver
Texas Sun by Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes
The Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti & Spearhead
Sun Is King by Laura Veirs
I will also throw in California Nights by Best Coast. Not strictly summer but California feels like summer to an east coaster like myself!
Yeah John Denver may be the full cheese so that’s an individual decision. You might like some of his lesser known songs like the wintry Aspenglow. But yes, we had a similar musical childhood!
"I have said forever that I’m not breaking rocks here."
That's nice, but have you fought the law?
On another note, for some reason over the last couple of months, when a new season of a multi-season series comes out, I've felt the compulsion to re-watch, starting from the beginning.
This time, coincidentally, it's The Bear. I just finished the first season (and two episodes of season 2) last night and. Wow.
That first season was fantastic and I'm foaming at the mouth to revisit season two, one of my all time favorite seasons on television (because Forks, duh).
I went to sleep last night with the last image stuck in my head being Carmy giving the amazing Claire a fake telephone number (Carmy, you IDIOT!)...
Almost eerie the Jonathan Richman reference. I was thinking about "The Beach" recently for the first time in a long time (for no conscious reason).
Otherwise a San Diego Summer (as near-redundant as it is) with tacos, margaritas...some pizza...need to check the schedule to see the next time the Giants are here.
I think it's the best weather (shhhhhh) but also the best tacos and margaritas. Please avail yourselves of them after arriving at our conveniently-located airport.
I do have tacos even more often these days. Can't complain.
Love to see a Gen X-coded playlist. I'd add Pavement's "Summer Babe."
Stay cool up there!! I just heard from a friend (another Bay Area to Portland transplant) that it's extremely hot right now. As usual, it's breezy and pleasant here.
Gotta represent! Maybe it's time to lean into the Gen-X thing. Although I do try to stay ageless and like a ghost.
Yes, it's going to be super hot but as I mentioned above in a different comment I really love living in the Pearl because of its planned-high density building. It provides tons of building shade and every street is tree lined. Heading into many other neighborhoods, particularly on the west side of the Willamette, everything seems very shady and many streets have a canopy. Plus, since it's Portland, there is a place for craft beer every 100 feet.
The reason that I was convinced that the Delta Breeze was fictional last year was because I moved here from Sausalito (where, if it hit 75, we were dying) on June 15 to a full month of 100+ degree days. No breeze would've helped last year.
And to add insult to injury, my extremely short coated 21.5 lb Standard Dachshund (and who I firmly believe is half Salamander at this point) LOVED it. We still have serious conversations about why being in the loving embrace of the AC is preferable...
Fortunately, I'm much more acclimated now and I notice the Delta Breeze — but it's not making a damned bit of difference right now!
Oddly, this is my second summer here and we've only had one day of really bad air quality. At least, according to the AirNow App.
I picked a Dyson Heat+Cold fan with a glass HEPA air purifier built in for my bedroom and it gives me internal air quality numbers on the app. I think that the Delta Breeze (which I was convinced was entirely mythical last year) blows the fire pollution out of Sacramento proper. I'm in Midtown, not far from the Capitol.
I have the antidote to the heat wave! Artic Circle! Mentioned on Tim’s last post. I’m starting Season three already (whoa, how did that happen?) and it’s been quite refreshing watching people cavort in snow and ice. It has issues of course but the main character, Nina, is giving me Anna Tov vibes from Fringe and I find it overall entertaining and it has its heart warming moments as well as appropriate carnage. The scenery is spectacular. Weird shit happens a lot but I’m convinced now (as Tim has been saying for some time), that pretty cool stuff is being produced all around the world.
Oh I think that first episode/early S1 vibe turned a lot of people away, Joe. You’re not alone. I actually started it late for that EXACT reason but really came around to it, before things soured a bit with S3. But back now.
Great playlist. There's probably a gazillion more to add, but I will throw out two from SF:
Summertime Thing - Chuck Prophet
Hot Fun In the Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone (RIP)
Great film, Worst Person In the World. So much good stuff from Norway, so now that I have seen all 5 seasons, I'm going to give another shout out to Pernille. It's very, very good.
Have a great time in Portland. I'm a little envious of the pizza situation.
Oh, forgot the pizza situation and to add this: There are SO many places, and I'm really trying to hit all the top ones, highly acclaimed, etc. But now I'm noticing that there are tons of places just making pizza without all the attention and I keep thinking, "Should I try that, too? Is it great? Is it the next gem?" At this rate, I will be enormous. PLUS, I'm really bumping up against my limited knowledge/experience, because I just read some comments about a guy who makes both wood fired pizza and, at a separate FOOD CART, non-wood fired pizza (duh, for safety) and people are raving about the latter even though the former is, as I read this, unbelievable. So now I have two places to visit, from the same pizza guy. Oh, and both of his places are named after Dungeon and Dragons stuff, which is also very Portland to me.
I would respectfully add a classic, Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues (and none of the awful covers, thank you very much).
This Playlist reminds me of one I need to reconstruct (note to self, upgrading both of your laptops and your iPhone at the same time may have, well, consequences). It was called "Have a Little Faith" and it included things like XTC's Dear God, Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia, etc...
The Cochran original is the best, no argument here.
I got on the plane Wednesday night only to find that Spotify had taken all of my previous downloaded playlists and, uh, made them undownloaded, except for about 8 of them, all from Spotify, and not from me.
I had wanted to go to Capetown for a long time, but once I started planning the trip was actually a bit disappointed as the safety concerns there mean you can't really wander and explore as much as I tend to like when I visit a place. We picked the destination because we had booked a deal at a game reserve down on the eastern Cape, and that was quite the experience. So definitely no qualms about the whole trip!
As far as the show, certainly there are explanations for their actions, and I watched a couple weeks ago so was writing a bit from memory but that was what I recall feeling. Still would be happy to hear your explanations. My feelings are mine of course, but you also understand more about the back end.
One more song:
Indian Summer - Beat Happening
I'm starting to listen to some of the ones I've never heard so this is good (and often I find out I have heard it). In general, everyone's suggestions have created a lovely urgency to create and then update the list in Spotify.
Spoilt. Love it.
Little slow to the action here, I was combing through a cellar loaded with perfectly stored mouth watering Burgundy, Rhône and Piemonte bottles that demanded prioritization.
This is my favorite kind of post, a free form extra credit writing assignment…evocative of a summer school make up class, where the rules aren’t nearly as strict.
Thanks for the playlist ideas, and the suggestions from everyone else…I’d better try to capture the summer vibe before the first weekend in August where I wonder where did it go?!
Jonathan Richman. How can I condense this in a credible way? My parents were singularly tolerant and open minded when it came to my playing records and listening to unfamiliar music. When Talking Heads 77 was released, the console stereo that anchored the living room was on the fritz, so I hauled my bedroom stereo out into the hallway and excitedly played the album for them and my younger sisters. Tolerated. (I don’t have any friends who can make that claim.) However, the ONLY artist my mother consistently objected to was Jonathan Richman. Anytime she was in the house and I was playing a record of his, she’d insist I turn it off. I would argue for her to just sit down and listen to the lyrics of “Affection”, but to no avail. I could freely listen to all of The Fugs, Richard Pryor, Captain Beefheart and even The Residents records without getting a rise out of her - but Jonathan’s insightful lovely playful songs were like fingernails on a chalkboard for her. Decades later I was at a house party in Oakland that Jonathan also attended so I shared with him my mom’s adamant fixation, which made him laugh and he seemed to take as a badge of honor.
I have completed Season 4 of ‘The Bear’, so seriously, no pressure about launching Spoilt.
Anyway, back to conjuring up that summer vibe…before August is in our laps.
Absolutely on authenticity. I’ve seen him live wherever I’ve lived.
His often overlooked ‘Jonathan Goes Country’ worms its way into your mind…and the cover is sublime, where he’s being offered a pair of bright red Tony Lama cowboy boots by a countrypolitan slickster, and Jonathan’s mock pensive, debating in his head whether he’s truly that much country.
Probably the most bizarre Jonathan related story was that for a brief period he was being managed by the notorious Phil Kaufman (who was the person who intercepted/stole Gram Parsons’ corpse from the airport and drove it out to Joshua Tree and set it ablaze). In Kaufman’s memoir ‘Road Mangler Deluxe’ he recounts that he afterward held a wake for Gram at his home, where Jonathan and The Modern Lovers were the band that played for those assembled. Just, wow.
I love this story. It's so funny that she could tolerate so much other stuff but Jonathan Richman (which Substack autocorrects on me every time to either "Richmond" or "Richard" ... and my battles with the editing platform continue.
Jonathan is so much fun and I love that you pointed out that she didn't even want to listen to "Affection," which is just hilariously sweet and earnest.
I was longtime friends with his manager and there are so many great Jonathan stories. But what I try to tell people for perspective is that JR was way more punk rock than so much of punk rock, because he would play his "kiddie" songs at CBGB and shit like that, earning raging ire that he didn't care about. I mean, that's a legend there.
He's also so super outside strange as to be undoubtedly authentic, because he's been that way his whole life.
One year he opened for Wilco at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley -- jam packed house -- and he played 70 percent of the songs in Spanish. I just laughed and laughed because he can not be tamed.
I've told this story before (maybe even here, who knows) but I have a friend who's a concert promoter and has booked Jonathan multiple times, most recently earlier this year. Because JR refuses to carry a cell phone, there is no way to get in touch with him, so someone just has to sit in front of the venue all afternoon waiting for him to arrive. Presumably Tommy, his drummer, doesn't have a phone either. It's incredibly inconvenient for everyone, but I kind of admire it too, you know?
Also, this is the text Jonathan requests that you put in the concert listing: "We still don't use a program or a set list so we don't know what we'll do until we do it. Please do not expect old songs. Many singers my age do a retrospective; this show is not like that. It's mostly stuff made up in the last 3 and 4 years. Some of the songs presented might be in different languages; this is not to be esoteric or clever, it's because the different languages help me express different feelings sometimes. One last thing, my idea of a good show has nothing to do with applause. It's about if all the songs I sang that night were ones that I felt."
Last vacation - May (South Africa), next official vacation - probably October (???)
Since you mentioned Families Like Ours again....
I enjoyed it, but couldn't give it the complete rave that you did. There was a point in the middle that I just wasn't buying all the character decisions. It got incredibly convoluted, where the (family) story only happens because of a combination of incredibly unlikely decisions. Laura finally convinces her father to bring his ex with them and he finally gives in, only for her to decline. Then Laura -- the brilliant, Sorbonne admittee -- does all this secret advance planning to be able to accompany her mother at the last minute.....only for her to not do so until the ship is delayed by an hour, and THEN she suddenly takes off to join her mom with the ticket she arranged in advance? And when she misses the ship, she decides on the spur of the moment, to make the stupidest, most thoughtless choice possible? There's zero congruency. So we're supposed to just say she's a young, dumb, and impulsive teenager? A lot of impulsiveness for the sake of drama that was not all that believable. That said, I was entertained by the show, but these thoughts were in my head while watching it.
I don't have a burning desire to go to South Africa but I'm told it's pretty amazing. I will, however, sing along to Graham Parker singing "Durban Poison."
As for the show, every take is personal and I don't have any argument with how it landed for you. I could gently make a case for why those decisions were made, but I'm not sure that accomplishes much or might sway you, because I'm often the same way -- friends will argue against how I took something and even it if seem plausible or something to consider, I generally side with how it hit me in the first place. So I understand.
Btw, October is arguably the best month to take vacation because in many places it's still beautiful weather, the crowds are gone and all the allure remains. Endorsed! Hell, late September through October is the best time to be in SF.
Not any official 'cation, but I do plan to get to this:
Exhibition Now Open to the Public
Past as Prologue: The Last Decade of Furniture Design by Ray and Charles Eames (1968–1978) explores the final years of Eames furniture design, capturing how their work evolved to meet the emergent needs of modern workplaces.
Free and open daily, 10am–5pm at the Transamerica Pyramid Annex Gallery, 535 Washington Street, San Francisco.
Runs till Fall, I read.
I still have getting to the Richmond, CA museum on my list. One of these days..
Live to enjoy and enjoy to live, for therefor ergo there go you!
I'm definitely making it to the Eames exhibit.
enjoy your vaca ! i just wanted to say a "thank you" for "Families Like Ours." i LOVED it prob more than anything i've watched recently and have told everyone to watch it but only knew to watch it because of your post on it. it is prob something i would have passed on !?!
Thank you Beth and I am indeed enjoying the early stages of the vacation. Temperatures are rising but I love that Portland has so much shade/trees and of course the shade of tall building in the Pearl where I live. Excited that you're spreading the word on "Families Like Ours."
I’m going to Europe soon. Germany. I need some time to spend in a free country. I still watch a little TV abroad but I am taking a true break from social media. I really need that!
The spoiler idea is good! I admit I am very slow getting to TV. I will eventually watch this new season of The Bear. I did want to let everyone know about a good show that’s about a chef. Has anyone watched Carême on Apple TV+? It’s French. About a cook in Paris in the Napoleonic era. Lots of luscious cooking scenes (and sex scenes, hey it’s French!) and political intrigue. It was sumptuous and I really enjoyed it.
Okay here is an eclectic list of summer songs. I could probably come up with more but it was already a lot. High and middle brow. Pop and rock:
Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey
Summer Girl by Haim
Rain in the Summertime by The Alarm
Deadbeat Summer by Neon Indian
Summer Babe (Winter Version) by Pavement
Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft
In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift
Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver
Texas Sun by Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes
The Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti & Spearhead
Sun Is King by Laura Veirs
I will also throw in California Nights by Best Coast. Not strictly summer but California feels like summer to an east coaster like myself!
Excellent list from the ones I know and will check out the ones I don't. Let's also not forget the Bananarama song "Cruel Summer"!
I'm not sure I can do John Denver, but I can do Summer Breeze as an ode to childhood.
I've got work to do on my list now!
Yeah John Denver may be the full cheese so that’s an individual decision. You might like some of his lesser known songs like the wintry Aspenglow. But yes, we had a similar musical childhood!
That’s a great one by Lana Del Rey. Patti Smith was doing a fine cover of it on tour last year.
Lynn, these songs are great!
"I have said forever that I’m not breaking rocks here."
That's nice, but have you fought the law?
On another note, for some reason over the last couple of months, when a new season of a multi-season series comes out, I've felt the compulsion to re-watch, starting from the beginning.
This time, coincidentally, it's The Bear. I just finished the first season (and two episodes of season 2) last night and. Wow.
That first season was fantastic and I'm foaming at the mouth to revisit season two, one of my all time favorite seasons on television (because Forks, duh).
I went to sleep last night with the last image stuck in my head being Carmy giving the amazing Claire a fake telephone number (Carmy, you IDIOT!)...
I try to avoid the law. But in the spirit of the Clash (and yes, I know it was a cover), I will add this: "DON'T PUSH US WHILE WE'RE HOT."
(There was a time that ran for a few years when I said that constantly, and now that it's summer and I've mentioned it again, well, here we go).
I still want to rewatch "Mad Men."
Oh yes! Please let’s do a Box Set rewatch of Madmen!!
I do, too but it's a much bigger time commitments than The Bear...
😈
Almost eerie the Jonathan Richman reference. I was thinking about "The Beach" recently for the first time in a long time (for no conscious reason).
Otherwise a San Diego Summer (as near-redundant as it is) with tacos, margaritas...some pizza...need to check the schedule to see the next time the Giants are here.
Had tacos yesterday. Would probably have tacos every day if possible, or if I could survive it.
Are you referencing "The Beach" movie?
And yeah, hasn't it been confirmed the San Diego has the best weather anywhere?
Actually his song "The Beach": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtNU_O36Fk8
I think it's the best weather (shhhhhh) but also the best tacos and margaritas. Please avail yourselves of them after arriving at our conveniently-located airport.
I do have tacos even more often these days. Can't complain.
Love to see a Gen X-coded playlist. I'd add Pavement's "Summer Babe."
Stay cool up there!! I just heard from a friend (another Bay Area to Portland transplant) that it's extremely hot right now. As usual, it's breezy and pleasant here.
Gotta represent! Maybe it's time to lean into the Gen-X thing. Although I do try to stay ageless and like a ghost.
Yes, it's going to be super hot but as I mentioned above in a different comment I really love living in the Pearl because of its planned-high density building. It provides tons of building shade and every street is tree lined. Heading into many other neighborhoods, particularly on the west side of the Willamette, everything seems very shady and many streets have a canopy. Plus, since it's Portland, there is a place for craft beer every 100 feet.
I use Duty Watch, too.
The reason that I was convinced that the Delta Breeze was fictional last year was because I moved here from Sausalito (where, if it hit 75, we were dying) on June 15 to a full month of 100+ degree days. No breeze would've helped last year.
And to add insult to injury, my extremely short coated 21.5 lb Standard Dachshund (and who I firmly believe is half Salamander at this point) LOVED it. We still have serious conversations about why being in the loving embrace of the AC is preferable...
Fortunately, I'm much more acclimated now and I notice the Delta Breeze — but it's not making a damned bit of difference right now!
That first summer I moved to Vacaville from the East Bay was the worst. Took me 25 years to adapt to the valley heat
As another Bay Area refugee, I'm finding the 100+ degree temperatures here in my new home, Sacramento, to be rather uncivilized.
Not to mention the filthy smoke drifting down from the North State fires
Oddly, this is my second summer here and we've only had one day of really bad air quality. At least, according to the AirNow App.
I picked a Dyson Heat+Cold fan with a glass HEPA air purifier built in for my bedroom and it gives me internal air quality numbers on the app. I think that the Delta Breeze (which I was convinced was entirely mythical last year) blows the fire pollution out of Sacramento proper. I'm in Midtown, not far from the Capitol.
I have the antidote to the heat wave! Artic Circle! Mentioned on Tim’s last post. I’m starting Season three already (whoa, how did that happen?) and it’s been quite refreshing watching people cavort in snow and ice. It has issues of course but the main character, Nina, is giving me Anna Tov vibes from Fringe and I find it overall entertaining and it has its heart warming moments as well as appropriate carnage. The scenery is spectacular. Weird shit happens a lot but I’m convinced now (as Tim has been saying for some time), that pretty cool stuff is being produced all around the world.
I"m deep into binging the entirety of The Bear, just finished Season 3 last night...
...on the other hand, a re-watch of Northern Exposure is kind of sounding fun...
Last year we had a huge break from the fires. Here's hoping this year is as calm.
AirNow is very helpful. Duty Watch is my fire update app of choice to help track down where the smoke is coming from.
Don't ever disparage the mighty Delta Breeze! You'll curse us!
Hüsker Dü's Celebrated Summer.
Excellent. Yes.
Am I the only one not on The Bear bandwagon? I watched the first episode and got a headache by how frantic it was. No thanks.
Summertime Blues might fit your list.
Oh I think that first episode/early S1 vibe turned a lot of people away, Joe. You’re not alone. I actually started it late for that EXACT reason but really came around to it, before things soured a bit with S3. But back now.
Summertime Blues! Spot on.
Yeah, I stopped watching after the first episode. It was too much. I went back to it after reading all the accolades and it’s well worth it.
Great playlist. There's probably a gazillion more to add, but I will throw out two from SF:
Summertime Thing - Chuck Prophet
Hot Fun In the Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone (RIP)
Great film, Worst Person In the World. So much good stuff from Norway, so now that I have seen all 5 seasons, I'm going to give another shout out to Pernille. It's very, very good.
Have a great time in Portland. I'm a little envious of the pizza situation.
Oh, forgot the pizza situation and to add this: There are SO many places, and I'm really trying to hit all the top ones, highly acclaimed, etc. But now I'm noticing that there are tons of places just making pizza without all the attention and I keep thinking, "Should I try that, too? Is it great? Is it the next gem?" At this rate, I will be enormous. PLUS, I'm really bumping up against my limited knowledge/experience, because I just read some comments about a guy who makes both wood fired pizza and, at a separate FOOD CART, non-wood fired pizza (duh, for safety) and people are raving about the latter even though the former is, as I read this, unbelievable. So now I have two places to visit, from the same pizza guy. Oh, and both of his places are named after Dungeon and Dragons stuff, which is also very Portland to me.
As time goes on, I realize that when I want pizza I just want a classic NYC style pie with the shit I want on it...
Stop, you’re killing me. There’s some decent pizza in Utrecht but nothing exceptional. I do miss the Cheeseboard in Berkeley.
I would respectfully add a classic, Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues (and none of the awful covers, thank you very much).
This Playlist reminds me of one I need to reconstruct (note to self, upgrading both of your laptops and your iPhone at the same time may have, well, consequences). It was called "Have a Little Faith" and it included things like XTC's Dear God, Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia, etc...
The Cochran original is the best, no argument here.
I got on the plane Wednesday night only to find that Spotify had taken all of my previous downloaded playlists and, uh, made them undownloaded, except for about 8 of them, all from Spotify, and not from me.
...the horror...
My music library is ridiculous so most of my Playlist are of music that I actually own...
Carter Family or The Clash, sir? Or perhaps you'd prefer a little Wet Leg, Marianne Faithful or Stone Ponys...
Going to definitely watch Pernille. Oh and yes, excellent song suggestions. RIP Sly, indeed.
Since it just popped up in a post on Substack, I have to add one more song:
Rhett Miller - Most In The Summertime
I just read something from him on Substack about his sobriety.
Yeah, that’s the one with the link to the song